PRINCETON—When officials complete New Jersey's budget, they often just see line items and collections of numbers. But when they get a chance to see the money in action at research institutions including Princeton University, the outcomes are eye-opening, Senate President Steve Sweeney said today.

"When you look at budgets, they're just numbers on a piece of paper," said Sweeney (D-Gloucester) as he toured Princeton University's Kang Lab where students studied cancer cells. "You don’t realize what those numbers can be. It’s about spending smart and investing smart."

With molecular biology professor Yibin Kang as his guide, Sweeney made his way through the laboratory to learn more about what it takes to research cancer, which claimed the lives of Sweeney's mother and brother.

Students from around the world stood over microscopes and held up cancerous tumor cells preserved on glass slides as Sweeney looked on. Kang explained that the cycle of cancer research starts first in laboratories and can lead to partnerships with pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.

"You start with a human patient, get samples, figure out what goes wrong, find ways to target it and market it to companies to create cures," Kang said. "Basically all cancer drugs start with lab research."

Collaborations between corporations and research institutions helps spur New Jersey's economy, Sweeney said. Cancer treatments have come a long way since decades ago when doctors performed amputations to clear cancer from people's bodies, he said.

"As someone who has lost family members to cancer, just to see the progression and to see the work that you’ve done is really impressive," Sweeney told Kang. "It's an enormous return on investment, plus it's actually really making a difference and extending people's lives."